I’ve started writing regularly again. I wanted to wait a week or two into it before making some kind of announcement, because I wanted to make sure it would stick this time. It was a rough winter. It has been a rough couple years. I used to sort of laugh when people would say that writing is about perseverance, because I was never out of ideas or enthusiasm to write (even during my most depressed period), but now I know what it is to have neither the energy nor the enthusiasm for it. When just getting by takes all of your energy, there isn’t a lot left over for unnecessary things like creativity.

I’m working on a new thing. A story without an outline or predetermined ending. I’m not usually a discovery writer, but this is a just for fun project, so I’m going to see where it takes me.

I haven’t abandoned the Tattoo Magic project. But this idea just grabbed me, and while normally I’d throw it in my ideas folder and keep working on what I’d been working on, the actual urge and desire to write has been pretty scarce lately. So I grabbed hold if it while it existed, and I’m trucking along, hand-writing a few pages while on lunch at work and putting those into Scrivener when I get home.

In the worst case scenario, one or both of these projects get put in the mental drawer with the other half-finished projects.

Holiday weekends and holiday weeks are always hard. In good news, I got to spend a lot of time with my family! In bad news, I didn’t get very much writing done.

The first story in the short story series is Done with a capital “D,” though I’ll probably give it one final read before I launch the project. The second story is a bit more problematic. I’ve discovered that it needs quite a bit of work as I’m reading it through, which is kind of discouraging, but I plan on plugging away at that this coming week.

As with everything writing-related, things tend to take longer than I think they will. It’s taken me about two weeks to get one story from drafted to what I consider reader ready. That said: the first of the Tattoo Magic stories is reader ready and off to my proofreader (Jared). I’ve also spent a good amount of time putting work into my Patreon page. It’s not live yet, but I want it to be ready for launch when I need it.

I’m working on cleaning up short stories for my Patreon project. At this point I have one story that is pretty much good to go, and another story that I’m in the macroediting stage of. The one that is finished, I’m not sure where in the story arc I’m going to place it. Right now it’s the first story, but I’m not sure that it really fits in that location, though for continuity reasons it needs to go before some other stories. I think the second story might make a better first story, but that one needs some serious work.

I also launched a writer page on Facebook and did some Patreon research. So far, this getting up early to work on writing thing is really working for me.

I think that should be enough of a progress update in and of itself, but in the spirit of getting back to my old habits, I composed, edited, and posted a poem on my website here. That really got me missing creativity. Not guilting myself about how I should be writing but aren’t, but missing the creative process.

I’ve started writing in the mornings. Since then, I entered two hand-written stories into Scrivener and started to create a Patreon. I’m also thinking about launching a Facebook writer page so that I don’t unnecessarily spam friends with writing stuff. I counted my stories for the Patreon short story arc and I’m up to eight.

Editing will begin next week. Once I have a few of these good to go, I’ll launch my Patreon and have myself a project. Finally. But it will be out of excitement rather than obligation, and that’s the best feeling in the world.

Go to college, they said
(to a kid from the trailer park)
You have scholarships, they said
(to a kid from the trailer park)
You can afford it, they said
(to a kid from the trailer park)
Loans will cover the rest
It’s only 20%.

There are no jobs, they said
(to a kid with student loans)
Go back to school, they said
(to a kid with student loans)
You will have scholarships, they said
(to a kid with student loans)
You’ll be able to afford it
It’s only 20%.

We want you in public service, they said
(to a kid with expensive degrees)
You can afford it, they said
(to a kid with expensive degrees)
We won’t ask for more than you can pay, they said
(to a kid with expensive degrees)
We’ll forgive the rest
Up to 100%.

So irresponsible! So foolish!
Went to schools you couldn’t afford!
Took a job that didn’t pay!
This is your own fault!
You should have made better choices.

I’ve finished four stories of the initial five that I want to have set up as my buffer for my Patreon project. Then I need to revise these stories until they shine, and do some research on Patreon in general, and I’ll be ready to launch. To reiterate, this is the short story project cataloguing the rise, misuse, and fall of a magic system in a secondary-world fantasy setting.

Cue (more) heavy breathing.

This entire thing is making me apprehensive, much more so than my usual querying apprehension. I think it’s because it’s such an unknown. I have to keep reminding myself that this is an experiment, and it’s okay if it doesn’t work out, even if I’m not entirely sure what ‘working out’ looks like.

Since I’ve made progress to the point where I feel like I should be setting a deadline to be done with editing and so on, my personal, non-binding goal to launch is April 1.

Thanks to a writer-friend inviting me to write once a week at a coffee shop, and another writer-friend having a February writing sprint, I’m now done with three short-story rough drafts for the Tattoo Magic Patreon project. Whee!